Features:
We guess it’s excessive to demand a selfie before recording someone’s screen and monitoring their keystrokes. Still, TSheets allows you to establish this as a prerequisite (which makes sense, particularly when tracking chores done outside of a computer, like retail, construction, or entertainment labor). A feature that providers like TSheets, VeriClock, and Zoho Projects offer for employees who don’t have smartphones is also absent from the program here.
Hubstaff’s features for keeping an eye on your staff aren’t as advanced as some of the alternatives we looked into. It does not act as a content filter, record keystrokes, monitor files transferred to the printer, or recognize when a USB device is plugged into the computer. But it has activity tracking and productivity tools, so it’s a good choice for small organizations that don’t need to keep tabs on their workers’ every move but want to ensure they’re not wasting time.
However, unlike other employee tracking tools, this program does not operate invisibly in the background. Instead, it relies on user input in the form of job completion and time-reporting reports. If you deal with freelancers or contractors who use their computers, they may rest confident that Hubstaff will only monitor job-related computer use and will not spy on them while they’re not on the clock.
We guess it’s excessive to demand a selfie before recording someone’s screen and monitoring their keystrokes. Still, TSheets allows you to establish this as a prerequisite (which makes sense, particularly when tracking chores done outside of a computer, like retail, construction, or entertainment labor). A feature that providers like TSheets, VeriClock, and Zoho Projects offer for employees who don’t have smartphones is also absent from the program here.
Hubstaff’s features for keeping an eye on your staff aren’t as advanced as some of the alternatives we looked into. It does not act as a content filter, record keystrokes, monitor files transferred to the printer, or recognize when a USB device is plugged into the computer. But it has activity tracking and productivity tools, so it’s a good choice for small organizations that don’t need to keep tabs on their workers’ every move but want to ensure they’re not wasting time.
However, unlike other employee tracking tools, this program does not operate invisibly in the background. Instead, it relies on user input in the form of job completion and time-reporting reports. If you deal with freelancers or contractors who use their computers, they may rest confident that Hubstaff will only monitor job-related computer use and will not spy on them while they’re not on the clock.
Features Hubstaff has to offer
Here is a rundown of what Hubstaff can do in terms of monitoring:
Checking on the goings-on:
Hubstaff tracks your workers’ time at the keyboard and mouse to get a sense of how busy they are. This information may be combined with other user data, such as the employee’s app, website use, and screenshots, to determine whether the person is using their time effectively.
Maintaining a time log:
The time-tracking tool in Hubstaff is the best example of the company’s dedication to efficiency since it provides supervisors with insight into how much time employees have put in and the specific tasks and projects they are working on. By allowing you to assign tasks to workers and keep track of how much time they spend on each, Hubstaff may be used as a time-tracking tool for projects and keeping tabs on your staff.
Motivational moments:
If an employee’s timer is currently active, but the program hasn’t detected any activity for a certain length of time, Hubstaff will display an idle prompt popup to get the employee’s attention. Employees are given the option of keeping or erasing the time they were idle from their daily report, depending on the circumstances; for example, if they were on the phone with a client, they could choose to keep the time, while if they forgot to stop the timer when they stepped away for a break, they could choose to erase the time. The system then prompts the user to choose whether to keep clocking in or out.
Screenshots:
Hubstaff will randomly take screenshots of what your workers are doing. The program may be set to capture one, two, or three screenshots at 10-minute intervals (or disabled entirely), and it can take screenshots from any of your connected displays. If your staff often accesses private information, such as a client’s medical or financial records, a blur mode is available for screenshots.
Internet and mobile app monitoring:
Using this function, you can see which programs and websites your staff spends their time on and for how long. Seeing how much time workers spend on things like web browsing is a crucial feature of any employee monitoring program.
Reporting:
The reporting features in Hubstaff allow you to assess the time and money invested in various tasks by your staff. Week, employee, customer, and project filters are available. You may arrange to have a specific report sent to you at regular intervals.
App for mobile devices:
The software is available for iOS and Android devices, so your workers can clock in and out from anywhere. It can also monitor where they go and how long they stay there while on the clock. You may also use geofencing to have the timer begin when an employee enters a predetermined area (such as a building) and end when they depart.
Integrations:
More than 30 other programs, including accounting and bookkeeping tools like QuickBooks and FreshBooks, payroll and payment systems like Gusto and PayPal, and customer relationship management (CRM) platform Salesforce, may be integrated with Hubstaff.
Pricing and packages
Four options, including a free one, are available through Hubstaff, with monthly and yearly payments available for the premium ones. If you sign up for an entire year, you’ll have to pay for 10.
You may try out the program for free for 14 days before committing to a purchase, and if you decide it isn’t what you’re looking for during the first 60 days, Hubstaff will give you your money back, no questions asked.
Each strategy is described in detail below:
Hubstaff’s free tier has some severe limitations, however. It keeps track of time spent on tasks, takes a screenshot once every ten minutes, and evaluates productivity depending on how often the keyboard and mouse are used. For the last month, it has saved all of your “detailed activity,” including screenshots, activity levels, and the option to modify your time and make group payments.
The
Basic Plan costs $7 a month per user with a $2 required minimum. This plan adds to what’s available in the free tier. With this upgrade, you may take three screenshots every ten minutes, and the program of your choice can be integrated with one third-party service. Each user may have unique settings and get technical help anytime. We keep track of everything you do for a full six months.
The
monthly premium is $10 for two users or $5 per user. The more extensive staff monitoring software we looked at was like this concept. It has everything included in the starter package, plus limitless integrations with other programs. Time and attendance, timesheet approvals, invoices, payroll, client and project budgets, and weekly work limits are part of the package. So are monitoring of applications and websites, prompts to employees when they’ve been idle for too long, mobile GPS tracking, fleet tracking, tracking of time off and holidays, and more. Six months of activity history is stored in detail.
Pricing for businesses starts at $40 per month for a minimum of 2 users at $20 per month. All the perks of the Premium plan, plus unlimited job sites, VIP assistance, and a dedicated account manager, make this an attractive option.
Pros
- Hubstaff features an appealing user interface, and even though it may take a few clicks to locate a specific tool or function in one of its drop-down menus, the program is straightforward to explore and use. It does a fantastic job of consolidating the many pieces of information it gathers, making it easy for administrators to look over staff activities and determine output. Employee activity during work hours may be reported in various ways, such as a percentage that the user, date range, or activity category can filter.
Cons
- Some capabilities standards in other employee monitoring software are absent from Hubstaff since it focuses on assessing employee productivity and monitoring behavior and communications. Hubstaff, for instance, does not monitor website activity, record keystrokes, keep tabs on downloaded files, record when documents are printed, or detect when external storage media is used. It doesn’t have another feature that most employee monitoring solutions have: the ability to see what is being watched in real-time.
Is Hubstuff Worth It
Hubstaff offers many helpful features, and it is a program worth considering for your company if you care mainly about employee productivity or want a less intrusive monitoring system for your employees. But if you’re searching for a surveillance tool to monitor employees’ behavior and the substance of their conversations, Hubstaff isn’t the ideal answer for you.
